Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Bikeshare customers: Young white guys who make good money

In general, bikeshare users did not mirror the adult population of the Washington metropolitan region. More than nine in ten bikeshare survey respondents were employed, while the U.S. Census reports that only about seven in ten Washington metropolitan region adults are employed. But bikeshare survey respondents also differed from the general employed population. Compared with all commuters in the region, they were, on average,  Considerably younger  More likely to be male  More likely to be Caucausian 

Sorry for the fractured comment. The interesting things about the story include how the police chief defends it based on how many other arrests are made based on the stops, much like auto stops, and that bike enforcement for that one community is the highest in the state by a huge margin. The discrimination is stark between African-Americans and Spandex-Americans (who typically ride bikes) in Tampa Bay. Cycling has long tried to lure women, non-whites, lower economic classes, and children on to bikes with little success. So, a 27% minority getting 79% of the bike tickets is that much worse here because they generally make up so few bike riders.